Coinciding with the opening of "Identity is..." at MAD, NYC, "The Mad, Mad World of Michael Sylvan Robinson carries the conversation through a selected grouping of works exploring the juxtaposition of what is beautiful and what attacks that which is beautiful. But beauty wins!
Oscar Wilde stated: "Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, and creeds follow one another like the withered leaves of Autumn; but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons and a possession for all eternity." What though does it mean when beauty is used to actually jab at philosophies that limit one's access to not only equality but also a life rich in beauty? One answer to that question is you meet the work of artist Michael Sylvan Robinson. In " The Mad, Mad World of Michael Sylvan Robinson," an online only exhibition, timed to coincide with his opening on April 18th at The Museum of Art and Design in New York City, we explore the orchestrated coupling of undeniable beauty with subjects weighted down in inequality and in the angst of past centuries carried over to today. Starting with the works titled "Guide" and "Mediator" both works serve to be the bridge that carries one through moments of melancholy to reach the oracle that offers the wisdom found in the beauty of Robinson's art practice.
In a world that often strives to divide, inviting difference as a barrier, Robinson stitches together elements that can - on the surface- weigh one down, but through the intricacies of fragments brought together, he shows us that these differences are in fact that which beautifies our world, this mad, mad world we all inhabit and share.
